June 2009

June 30, 2009

Yep. Today is Evan's 7th birthday! Over the weekend we had party for him & cousin Avery at our house. We had cheeseburgers grilled by uncle Rick, green salad by grandma K & apple crisp {all that Evan had requested}. There were a few things we didn't get to do, like apple bobbing & camping out in the tent, but we had a great time anyway. It started out super hot, then we had some slightly scary thunderstorms rumble through & send the tent across the yard. Evan happily received some cash presents so he could go shopping for some of the many things he's been wanting. He also recieved a cool Cardinals jersey & a gift for Collin & him to share... a wii! They were both super excited about that one!

Today he started out his day w/ me singing him happy birthday while he ate breakfast. Then they were all off to the babysitters w/ brownies & candles. He's very excited about going to the sitters today, he's anxiously awaiting opening her gift to him. Swimming lessons & then tonight I think we'll go to the swimming pool & grab Evan's choice for supper. This morning Dan was commenting how he wasn't 6 anymore & I told him he'll never be 6 again :( Of course he replied that he was glad... he was tired of being 6! Typical Evan. Happy Birthday Evan... we love you so very much.

June 25, 2009

Around our house we've been planning a birthday party. Yes, our Evan will soon be seven & he's giving us his wish list. For the last several years, we've done a party for Evan & Collin together, but this year, they requested separate parties. Evan will, however, share his party with cousin Avery {he'll be 16 four days after Evan's birthday}. So, I thought I'd share some things the little guy has suggested over the last month or so...

apple bobbing

camping in tents

camp fire

slip n slide

cheeseburgers made by uncle Rick

green salad {family staple}

pop

ruffles {his fave chip}

apple crisp {like they make at school}

s mores

he's been very specific about what he wants for his party. We'll see what we can work out. If the weather is anything like they say, we may be having an inside party this year. Maybe we can camp out in the basement?

I was reading ali's blog this morning & love the ideas she had for shedding layers. I've totally been doing this over the last several months. I haven't been doing nearly as much traditional scrapbooking over the last few years, but am still hanging on to supplies that I love & plan to use in some way or another. Of course I have a large selection of my own scrapbook designs & the other Reminisce designers, which really pile up. I tend to have more than I can use, but share a lot with my sister & my niece, who love to be surprised with scrapbooking treats here & there. Trust me, if your holding on to too much stuff, clean house & live w/ less. It makes you feel soooooo much better. Now, if I could just convince my kids of this......

June 17, 2009

We heard she was tough. Well, that was a good thing for Collin this year. We had lots of ups & downs in 4th grade, but in the end, it definitely paid off. Collin really improved in many areas & learned a lot! He has said more than once how much he loved having Mrs. See as a teacher {even though he didn't always enjoy all the homework}. With your help he's boosted his confidence in himself & his abilities. You've really paved the path for his success in the years to come. So, thank you Mrs. See, you helped make this the best year yet!

Well, it took me a while to get this post up, but here it is. Here's Evan with his first grade teacher, Ms. Schumaker. Evan really enjoyed having her as his teacher. She had great patience for his sometimes excessive perfectionism & always commented to me how she enjoyed his funny observations. We learned he may even be lucky enough to have her for his 2nd grade teacher! Thank you so much for such a great year!

June 16, 2009

After picking up the boys from the sitters today, they decided to get out the slip n slide to cool off. They had a blast! Even though I had kept Lydie home with tummy troubles today, she seemed to be feeling good enough after nap {plus she was super excited to play in the water}, so I let her out to have some fun. It's so great to watch them & see the pure joy in their faces.

jeez. I knew I hadn't blogged for a while. We've been pretty busy around here. The boys are out of school & are enjoying some play days at the babysitters house, lazy days around home & getting to stay up late. Lydia's doing awesome tackling the potty. Evan is honing his bike riding & baseball skills. Collin has some plans for some cool day camps outside fishing & water sports & the boys are even going to do a camp out with Dan in a few weeks. The boys always look forward to swimming lessons, which are coming up soon as well.

The most exciting part about summer around our house, of course is the lineup of birthdays. Evan is on the countdown now for his birthday on June 30..... #7 this year! He's making plans for his party & of course, all the good stuff he wants! Collin's bday is July 29... it's a BIG one this year. TEN. Really, I can't believe I'm going to have a ten year old! In between the birthdays is our anniversary. Ours is a big one too.... fifteen years! Since we went to Hawaii earlier this year, we probably won't go away, but I'm working on putting together a new bedroom for us. In all our years, we've never had a really nice, furnished bedroom. Our bedroom is nice right now, but of course, as is the typical w/ our house, it was only partially finished when we moved in! Hopefully I can enlist some help so Dan doesn't have to lift a finger on this one.

We've also been working on tons of stuff around the house. I'm working on a lot of things inside the house {trying to get organized, decluttering} & Dan's been working non stop on the lawn, painting on the porch & of course, making future plans for everything he wants to do. I talked him into NOT doing a big project this year & instead finishing as much unfinished stuff that we could tackle. Wish us luck! Oh & if you LOVE to paint, you're more than welcome to join us!

June 04, 2009

Last Friday night we had a great night to enjoy Evan's first t-ball game of the year. Love hanging out & chatting w/ the other parents & grandparents. Evan told me on the way there he was a little nervous {not really like Evan}, but I told him not to worry. His team {Houghton1} was playing Houghton 2, so it was a good start to get over his jitters. He went on to let me know he was going to hit a home run, which I didn't doubt in the least! Just so you know, he didn't hit it out of the park, but he did run the bases on his first up to bat {he even started lapping the little girl ahead of him!}. Great work Evan! Next up, an away game at WP this Friday.

June 01, 2009

Early last month I stumbled across a cool website called peppermint creative for digital scrapbooking. I ordered a few kits & downloaded a few "pimp my page" challenge templates. I put a few layouts together & posted them & really enjoyed seeing feedback from others. Today they revealed the winner & top 10. Well I didn't win the prize, but was sooo happy to be chosen for the top ten. Here's my layout:

they also had a bonus challenge template for National Scrapbooking Day:

there's a cool new challenge template for june.... can't wait to play!